Posts Tagged “100 geek dinners”

About a month ago, I was invited to an artist networking and wine tasting party by Lisa Call whom I met through my blog. The event was held last night and I had the opportunity to meet several other local artists working in different mediums. Also, in attendance was Alyson Stanfield, who is a business consultant and coach for artists. Alyson also happens to run Art Biz Blog which is chock full of resources. I had an interesting evening and the discussions that ensued have me thinking about the the art that I make and the direction I would like to move towards, my marketing strategies, online sales, eBay and blogging.

I was nervous about attending because I had never met any of these people before. I remarked to someone there that I felt like I was going on a blind date. But, one of Alyson’s most recent pieces of advice is that it is good to make oneself uncomfortable and to reach just a little bit to grow professionally and to make new connections. I felt more than a little uncomfortable because most of the artists at the party are much more established than myself. I feel like I’m just starting out and it doesn’t help that I dabble in several different mediums. However, I am glad that I went because I learned a lot last night and am ready to make the next step. Part of that next step involves evaluating my work and how I want to represent myself.

The topic of eBay came up and the site’s yard sale like qualities were discussed. Is it a good venue to sell art? Some artists are doing quite well on eBay, others are giving their work away. Is the quality there or is it better for formulaic decorator type work? I was going to stay quiet, but finally admitted that I am selling on eBay. I felt slightly embarrassed and this morning even thought about removing the link from my blog. I didn’t, because I do consider the small works that I sell on eBay as a sampling of my work. My hope is that people who buy my small works online will also be interested in larger pieces one day.

So what do I need to do?

• Narrow down my work to 2 mediums that I enjoy
  • Ceramic Wall Sculpture
  • Fiber Collage

• Either separate these 2 mediums into different websites, or somehow have the work relate to each other
• Update my website
• Reach out to more artists with my blog
• Develop a stronger body of work
• Focus less on sales
• I need new business cards!
• Write an artist statement
• Revisit pricing
• Enter more shows
• Develop a strong portfolio to present to galleries
• Get more uncomfortable!
• Enroll in one of Alyson’s Seminars

I could keep adding to my to-do list, but for now I will stop here, print this out and hang it up in my studio. One of the valuable things I find about blogging is that once I put something out here in cyberspace, I feel more accountable to follow through with what I write.

The wine for the party was donated by Storm Hoek which is a South African Winery. They are currently on a quest to donate wine to 100 parties in the US right now if you have a group that might be interested in participating. Check out their website and blog to find out more!

On another note, it’s snowing again here in Colorado! I took this photo looking down the middle of the street where I live in Denver. It was a bit like navigating a natural disaster when I drove my daughter to school this morning. Many of the trees are still leafed out and we found many broken limbs in the middle of the streets and dangling precariously from trees. I kept expecting one to come crashing throught the roof of the car.